So Much Owed By So Many To So Few

In the United Kingdom, the Battle of Britain is officially recognised as taking place between 10 July and 31 October 1940. Across those months, RAF Fighter Command fought to prevent the Luftwaffe gaining the air superiority Germany would need before attempting an invasion of Britain.

Britain’s air defences were under sustained attack, with the Luftwaffe targeting airfields, bases and key industrial facilities. Fighter Command entered the Battle under considerable pressure following the campaigns in France and Norway, which had cost aircraft, experienced pilots and ground personnel.

With the German air force’s commander-in-chief, Hermann Göring, seeking to weaken Fighter Command, German attacks concentrated heavily on shipping, ports, airfields, radar installations and aircraft production. Towns and civilians were also caught in the bombing, even before the later large-scale attacks on London and other cities.
The aim was to weaken Fighter Command sufficiently for the Luftwaffe to gain control of the skies over southern England and the Channel. Without that air superiority, any attempt to move an invasion force across the Channel would face serious opposition from both the RAF and Royal Navy.

(German invasion barges waiting at Boulogne Harbour, France during the Battle of Britain)

The Germans had positioned a variety of landing craft at a number of locations across northern France as part of Operation Sea Lion, the planned invasion of Britain.

Whether Operation Sea Lion could ever have succeeded remains a subject of historical debate. What is certain is that Hitler issued Directive No. 16 on 16 July 1940, ordering preparations for an invasion of Britain. Before those plans could realistically proceed, Germany first needed to overcome Britain’s defences and secure control of the air.

On the night of 24 August, German bombs fell on London during raids in which the capital had not been the main intended target. Bomber Command responded with an attack on Berlin the following night.

The events became part of a much wider change in the German campaign. By early September, Luftwaffe commanders believed Fighter Command had been badly weakened and increasingly turned their attention towards London, hoping both to damage the capital and draw the RAF into a decisive battle.

On 7 September the Luftwaffe launched its first major daylight assault on London. The change reduced some of the intense pressure that had been placed on Fighter Command’s airfields, although the RAF remained under considerable strain.

(Calais, September 1940. Hermann Göring addressing Luftwaffe personnel.)

The increased focus on London gave Fighter Command some respite, allowing damaged airfields and facilities to be repaired while aircraft and squadrons continued to be replenished. It did not end attacks on RAF targets, but the emphasis of the German campaign had changed.

It was only weeks earlier that Churchill had warned in a speech in the House of Commons that “the Battle of Britain is about to begin”. Operation Dynamo had evacuated more than 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk and the surrounding beaches after German forces advanced through France.

Germany was firmly in the ascendancy and now switched its attention to an air and sea blockade of the Channel. Having occupied France, Belgium and the Netherlands, its focus was now on Britain, but Nazi military chiefs were well aware that a seaborne invasion opened up a host of difficulties.

(Battle of Britain Mug available to purchase here)

The British still controlled much of the Channel and the North Sea, so the Luftwaffe initially targeted coastal shipping convoys and key sites on the south coast, including Portsmouth, in an attempt to cut Britain off and draw the RAF into a fight. Hitler, meanwhile, was still hopeful that Britain would seek peace, and when he concluded that Churchill had no intention of acquiescing to his demands, preparations continued for Operation Sea Lion.

Sustained attacks were launched in August against the RAF and Fleet Air Arm, with the Germans declaring 13 August as Adlertag, or Eagle Day. Waves of German attacks were mounted against targets in the south east, notably in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and Essex.

Adlertag failed to deliver the decisive blow German commanders had hoped for. Poor weather disrupted the operation, communications were confused and a number of targets were missed or attacked ineffectively. The Luftwaffe generated around 1,500 sorties during the day, but Fighter Command remained firmly in the fight. Forty-six Luftwaffe aircraft were shot down.

Much of the British success in defending key sites is put down to the Dowding System, the world’s first wide-area ground-controlled interception network, created by the RAF before the start of the war. Information from Chain Home radar stations and the Royal Observer Corps was brought together through a network of operations rooms, creating an increasingly accurate picture of approaching raids. Controllers could then direct fighter squadrons towards the enemy rather than relying on pilots to search the skies for them.

(WAAF plotters pictured at work in the underground Operations Room at HQ Fighter Command, Bentley Priory, in north-west London)

But the attacks remained frequent throughout August, with numerous setbacks for Britain’s defences following Adlertag. On 18 August the Luftwaffe mounted major attacks against fighter airfields including Kenley, Biggin Hill, Hornchurch and North Weald.

The fighting was so intense that the date later became known as the Hardest Day. The RAF and Fleet Air Arm lost 68 aircraft during the day, while 69 German aircraft were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.

Fighter Command was not collapsing, but the pressure during the final days of August and opening days of September was severe. Airfields and sector stations in the south east suffered repeated attacks, while the loss of experienced pilots was becoming increasingly difficult to replace.

There would still be bad days for Fighter Command, with 31 August proving the costliest in terms of home aircraft. Thirty-nine fighters were shot down and 14 pilots killed as the Luftwaffe launched sustained attacks in the Thames Estuary and across Kent, with Biggin Hill suffering heavily in the bombardment.

By September, however, Fighter Command was still capable of meeting the Luftwaffe in strength. The defence of the capital on 15 September would later earn the date the title of Battle of Britain Day.

The Luftwaffe launched two major daylight attacks against London, but Fighter Command was ready. British fighters met both raids in considerable strength and fierce fighting followed.

RAF wartime claims greatly overstated the number of German aircraft destroyed during the day, an understandable problem amid large and confused aerial engagements. Later examination of German records established that the Luftwaffe lost 56 aircraft on 15 September.

Two days later Hitler postponed preparations for Operation Sea Lion.

(Smoke rising from fires in the London docks, following bombing on 7 September)

While the Blitz of British cities continued, it had become evident that the Luftwaffe had failed to achieve the air superiority needed for an invasion.

The RAF was reliant principally on the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire in Britain’s defence. The Boulton Paul Defiant was also used, but its vulnerability when confronted by single-seat enemy fighters led to its withdrawal from daylight fighter operations as the Battle progressed.

The Germans relied on the Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Bf 110 to protect bombers including the Heinkel He 111, Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88.

The Bf 109E was a formidable opponent, with capabilities that compared closely with the Spitfire. One of its major disadvantages when operating over Britain was endurance. Flying from bases across the Channel left its pilots with relatively little time over southern England before fuel levels forced them to turn for home.

By October, large-scale Luftwaffe daylight attacks had been reduced, although fighter-bomber operations and heavy night bombing continued. The officially recognised Battle of Britain ended on 31 October 1940, but the Blitz continued into the following year.

Fighter Command had survived as an effective fighting force and the Luftwaffe had failed to gain the air superiority required for an invasion. It was a strategic British victory and the first major military defeat suffered by Nazi Germany.

(Pattern of vapour trails left by British and German aircraft after a dogfight)

While many airfields in Britain were hit and dogfights were fought across the country, much of the most intense action took place over southern and south-eastern England. Fighter Command’s No. 11 Group carried much of the burden because it defended London and the approaches across the Channel from German bases in occupied Europe.

While many, rightly, pay tribute to the speech given by Churchill in August 1940 in the Commons, praising the skills and bravery of “the Few”, the words of a pilot who was regularly scrambled to defend Britain at that time probably best summarise just how many in the RAF were, in their eyes, simply doing what they had to do.

“It (life) was very fragile, but strangely enough it was a good life. I enjoyed it,” said Wing Commander Paul Farnes, who flew Hurricanes with 501 Squadron during the Battle of Britain, seeing 20 of the 60 pilots he served with at that time head out on sorties, never to return.

The cost of the Battle was considerable. A total of 544 members of the Few were killed during the officially recognised period of the Battle, while hundreds more RAF personnel were killed on the ground as RAF stations came under attack.

Postwar examination of German records established that the Luftwaffe lost 1,733 aircraft between 10 July and 31 October, with hundreds more damaged.

The names of those killed are displayed in a memorial book that rests in the Battle of Britain Chapel in Westminster Abbey, with a stained-glass window inscribed with the badges of the squadrons operating during the Battle along with the flags of the nations of the aircrews involved.

Group Captain John “Paddy” Hemingway DFC became the last surviving pilot of the Battle of Britain. The Irish-born Hurricane pilot had served with No. 85 Squadron during the Battle. He died on 17 March 2025 at the age of 105, bringing to a close the living link with the airmen who had fought in the Battle of Britain.

The Few were also far more international than their name sometimes suggests. Around one fifth of Fighter Command’s aircrew came from overseas, with 16 nations represented. They included airmen from Poland, Czechoslovakia, New Zealand, Canada, Australia and South Africa, as well as volunteers from countries including Ireland and the United States.

Their contribution made the Battle of Britain an international defence of Britain, and one of the defining chapters in the history of the Royal Air Force.